A county ditch is a drainage system managed by a County Drainage Authority or Joint County Drainage Authority. The county does not own the ditch. The landowners who benefit from the ditch own the drainage system. A county ditch can be an open ditch system, an underground tile system or a combination of open ditch and underground tile.

Road ditches are not county ditches. Road ditches are the responsibility of the road authority.

The first step to solve the problem is to notify the county’s Ditch Manager. After the Ditch Manager has reviewed the problem, a plan will be made to solve the problem. Please call (507) 304-4251 to report the problem with the ditch.

Property owners who are benefited by the ditch are the ones who pay for it. For county ditches, the county pays the contractor and assesses all costs back to the benefited property owners through a special assessment.

All new ditches require a ditch buffer. Existing drainage systems are essentially grandfathered in, meaning they are allowed to continue without a one-rod buffer until the Drainage Authority orders a Re-determination of Benefits or a Determination of Benefits for an improvement is performed. Ditch buffers are required on all improvements.

Establishing ditch buffers is not required for most repairs. Some repairs, such as re-sloping, require viewers and a buffer must be established.

Repairs are not intended to significantly increase hydraulic efficiency or capacity of the ditch. The term "repair," means to restore all or a part of a drainage system as nearly as practicable to the same condition as originally constructed and subsequently improved.

Open ditch repairs include minor work such as spraying for weeds and brush, removal of isolated silt deposits, bridge or culvert cleaning, removal of vegetation, debris or other obstructions, fixing isolated side slope damage due to sloughing, fixing damage to culverts and fixing or installing erosion control stuctures.

Repairs may also involve more extensive cleaning of the ditch bottom of silt deposits to bring the grade line and bottom width to originally constructed or subsequently improved conditions.

Repairs on tile lines include repair or replacement of underground tile as well as the tile intakes and outlets.

An improvement project involves the enlarging, extending, straightening, or deepening of an established, previously constructed system. Generally an improvement project provides for the upgrading and enhancement of the existing system’s hydraulic capacity and drainage ability. Improvements must go through a hearing process that includes a determination of benefits.